In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune on April 25, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Contemporary, Fiction / Fantasy / Humorous, Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Gay
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover
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What would happen if computers & machines evolved? “How does one arrive at the decision to kill God?”
TJ Klune is a master with this genre. This is a sci-fi with a Pinocchio feel to it. The characters were so inventive and the plot was snappy. In The Lives of Puppets is one that will have you thinking about the future of machines for a long time!
Giovanni Lawson is the father figure in this one who builds a house into the branches of a forest of trees. He assembles a type of family out of machines. There is Nurse Ratched (Registered Automaton to Care, Heal, Educate, and Drill), who is the most sarcastic nurse, and a bit sadistic. Then there is the vacuum, Rambo, who wants to be brave but is a clean freak. And Gio has “fathered” Vic and watched him grow up. Vic is the machine that needs to eat and sleep to recharge. (haha) Vic enjoys salvaging and repairing robots.
One day, he discovers a robot in the salvage yard with the designation HAP. He repairs him and discovers he may have a dark past with Gio. His secret mission to alert the robots about the hiding place of Giovanni destroys the small family and peaceful life they built in the woods. But will HAP chose a family or the robots?
And once Giovanni is discovered by the machines, can they save him? Now Vic has to save his father who was sent to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. Vic also has to confront his feelings about Hap.
I admit that the first 75ish pages took a little bit to get into with all the world building, but the story was so imaginative. I enjoyed the creativity that went into this story and the complex world building. The characters were funny and I wanted to be friends with them, even Nurse Ratched, who would probably drill me. TJ Klune is always a win for me.